[Adam Bishop]

Thick grip work could be an option here – adding thick grips to your Dumbbells might help.

One of my favourite grip/forearm builders is a wrist roller performed with a band attaching a plate or KB to the collar of an unloaded barbell in the rack. Controlling the accent and decent is a sure fire way to get your forearms working

[Adam Bishop]

Yes of course. Work with a load and rep range that suits you and allows pain free movement.

I actually prefer banded pendulum squats for the same reason – saves the knees a bit on deep flexion. I just reintroduced them into my programme as a final 20 rep set to finish my session.

[Adam Bishop]

Had the trip today to see Dr Matt Milner who looks after my bloodwork. I’ve worked with him for the past 3 years and he oversees my medicals for WSM as well as giving input into anything that could give me the edge recovery wise.

I’ll get the results back on Friday but it was important for me to keep track of things as my body is very sensitive to changes so when I put weight on I always keep an eye on my bloodwork.

Later in the year I will have my full medical including ECG prior to competing at WSM

[Adam Bishop]

Solid squat session today which we filmed with the awesome MagicEyeMedia for the site.

Squat 265×4 235×4 215×3
Paused Squat 185x2x3
Leg Extensions – 2 work sets
Hack squat- 1 work set
Seated leg curl – 2 work sets
Prone leg curl – 2 work sets
Seated calf raise – 1 drop set
Pendulum squat – 1 set to failure

[Adam Bishop]

Just realised my press session from yesterday didn’t post!

Here’s how it went down:

Incline Bench Press 160×4 145×4 130×4
Paused Incline Bench 120x3x4
Slight incline DB Fly – 2 work sets
Hammer strength chest press – 2 work sets
Banded Decline Press – 2 work sets
Cable Facepulls – 2 work sets
DB Reverse Flys – 2 work sets

Increased the volume as planned with the addition of the banded Decline press. I set this up in my power rack with a pair of doubled super mini bands around the band peg at the top of the rack and I’m really impressed with the feel of this movement. One for the home gym users of those with limited kit.

[Adam Bishop]

Hey Nick,

Here’s my current diet:

M – Incline bench/push1 / T – military press/push2 / S – Arms
07:30 – wake up
08:10 – walk the dogs (30min, 2km)
09:00 – 5 large eggs, 150g Cheerios and 300ml whole milk
11:30 – 300ml egg whites, 300ml whole milk, 2 cups of oats (160g), 140g blueberries, 20g protein from whey
14:00 – 300g chicken thighs (raw weight, skinless and boneless) 150g jasmine rice (raw weight)
15:30 – training – intra of 75g Sustain
Halfway through the session in 1 go, 25g EAAS, 5g creatine
17:30 – 60g protein from whey, 150g of COR, 110g pineapple
20:00 – 300g rib eye steak, 130g jasmine rice
22:30 – 150ml egg whites, 250ml whole milk, 1 cup of oats, 20g pro from whey, 170g banana
23:00 – bed

T – Squat/lower body / F – Deadlift/pull
07:30 – wake up
08:10 – walk the dogs (30min, 2km)
09:00 – 5 large eggs, 160g Cheerios and 300ml whole milk
11:30 – 300ml egg whites, 300ml whole milk, 2 cups of oats (160g), 200g blueberries, 20g protein from whey
14:00 – 300g chicken thighs (raw weight, skinless and boneless) 160g jasmine rice (raw weight)
15:30 – training – intra of 85g Sustain
Halfway through the session in 1 go, 25g EAAS, 5g creatine
17:30 – 60g protein from whey, 160g of COR, 130g pineapple
20:00 – 300g rib eye steak, 140g jasmine rice
22:30 – 150ml egg whites, 250ml whole milk, 1 cup of oats, 20g pro from whey, 200g banana
23:00 – bed

Rest days
07:30 – wake up
08:10 – walk the dogs (30min, 2km)
09:00 – 5 large eggs, 135g Cheerios and 300ml whole milk
11:30 – 300ml egg whites, 300ml whole milk, 2 cups of oats (160g), 100g blueberries, 20g protein from whey
14:00 – 300g chicken thighs (raw weight, skinless and boneless) 150g jasmine rice (raw weight)
17:30 – 60g protein from whey, 150g of COR, 110g pineapple
20:00 – 300g rib eye steak, 150g jasmine rice
22:30 – 150ml egg whites, 250ml whole milk, 1 cup of oats, 20g pro from whey, 160g banana
23:00 – bed

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day today. Nothing special, just got the morning walk in before the snow came down and then a pretty chilled day.

Back in the barn tomorrow for some pressing.

[Adam Bishop]

Completed a pull session a day late this week to account for the travel from Dubai and moving my squat session to Wednesday.

All went to plan and assistance exercises felt strong.

Deadlift 347.5×5 315×5 280×5
Paused deadlift 245x3x5
CG Pulldowns
Seated row
WG Pulldown
SA DB Row
DB Shrugs

(All assistance work done with two work sets 6-9reps and 12-20 reps)

[Adam Bishop]

Solid shoulders session today. Dropped the secondary chest work this week as I’ve had to condense the training week down a bit.

Military Press 125×5 112.5×5 100×5
Paused Military Press 90x3x5
DB Lateral Raise – 2 work sets
Seated DB Press – 2 work sets
Front/lateral/rear raise – 3×10/10/10

[Adam Bishop]

Leg session at physique warehouse today. Progressed all my lifts well and had near to no hip pain which is a first for many weeks. I think I’ve found the right combo of mobility work prior to squatting to avoid the pain. Also managed to add in another hamstring curl variation as was planned for this block.

Squat 250×5 225×5 200×5
Leg Extensions – 2 work sets
Hack squat – 2 work sets
Seated leg curl – 2 work sets
Prone leg curl – 2 work sets
Seated calf raise – 2 work sets

[Adam Bishop]

Back from Dubai this evening – great couple of days in the sun.

Moved my days around this week to accommodate the travel today so it’s squat and legs tomorrow

[Adam Bishop]

Final hotel gym session as i head back home tomorrow. No rack here so used the smith machine instead which was cool.

Incline Smith Press 155x3x5
Paused Incline Smith Press 107.5x3x5
Machine Press – 3×12-20 (light stack)
Cable fly – 2 work sets
Cable decline press – 2 work sets
Cable face pulls – 2 work sets
Reverse Cable Fly – 3×15

[Adam Bishop]

Saturday’s Arms session.

The the joys of the hotel gym. This is where you get the two characters I tell you! Both times I’ve been in there this week there’s been the same guy doing his entire session just using the double cable stack. Bizarre. Also had a guy training in full GB triathlon kit (I assume he stole it looking at the state of him) while not swimming, cycling or running haha.

Anyway here’s how Saturday’s Arm focused session went down:

Rope Cable Pressdowns – 2 work sets
BB Curl – 2 work sets
DB Rolling Extensions – 2 work sets
Seated DB Curl – 2 work sets
Straight bar Pressdowns – 2 work sets
DB Hammer Curl – 2 work sets

[Adam Bishop]

Really interesting log Adam. I’ve found myself getting more into the powerlifting and strongman side of things over the last couple of years.

Interested in what your full recovery protocol looks like, I know you’ve mentioned hot / cold and soft tissue but anything else you implement?

Hi Martin I’m glad you’re enjoying following the training log.

My recovery schedule varies depending on the intensity of my training block.

I prioritise Sleep and Nutrition first as these have the biggest impact on recovery IME.

On top of that I will walk 30-45min every morning utilising this as a form of active recovery.

Those 3 things remain in my programme every day, all year round.

I’ll then add in cold water immersion and/or contrast baths on rest days when I feel I need them and once we get into a very heavy training block I will do CWI and/or contrast baths everyday to manage inflammation and aid blood flow.

I have been looking at getting a hyperbaric chamber for the lead up to WSM this year but unfortunately they are looking a bit too expensive at the moment.

Soft tissue wise I get work done with an osteopath once per week all year round focused on my back and hips which seem to take the biggest battering.

[Adam Bishop]

Fridays session

So I’m out in Dubai for a couple of days with the Mrs and the goal is to relax as part of this off season. I’m sticking as close as I can to my usual diet but I’m also not letting it get in the way of spending some quality time with the Mrs.

Same goes for training. I’ll be training in the hotel gym rather than going out to one of the “proper” gyms in Dubai. This week is a deload anyway so I’m not sweating it if I have to modify a movement etc. It allows for both a mental and a physical break.

Back session (no deadlifts)

CG Pulldown – 2 work sets
Seated machine row – 2 work sets
Smith machine bent over row – 2 work sets
DB monkey shrugs – 2 work sets
DB Reverse Fly – 2 work sets